Tyra Banks
Tyra Lynne Banks (born December 4, 1973) is a American television personality, author, actress, singer, executive producer, talk show host, and former supermodel. She first emerged to prominence as a cover model for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and one of the original Victoria's Secret Angels. She went on to host the reality television show America's Next Top Model and is currently hosting her own daytime talk show, The Tyra Banks Show. TIME magazine named her as one of the world's 100 most influential people in 2006.
Tyra Banks was born in Los Angeles, California, to Donald (Don) Banks and his wife, now divorced, Carolyn Estelle London (1946 -). She was raised in Inglewood, California with her older brother Devin (now divorced with children), and attended Immaculate Heart High School, an all-girl, independent Catholic private school in Los Angeles. Growing up, she was very thin and often teased; she was considered to be "ugly." Banks later said that this was a very difficult period for her and she developed a "very strong self-image problem." Her mother managed her daughter's modeling career and in 1989 established London Photography, a home-based glamour portrait business.
In 1991, Banks was about to begin her freshman year at Loyola Marymount University when Elite Model Management gave the 17-year-old her first modeling job. Prior to this entry into the fashion world, Banks had been rejected several times for modeling assignments. In fact, she states that she did not consider her first job to be the start of a long career in fashion: "An agent saw pictures of me and said that I was the only girl she wanted to take back to Paris... I didn't leave thinking I was going to be some big fashion model. I just wanted to make money for junior college."
Banks' career took with several high profile modeling contracts, most notably the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue and Victoria's Secret. In 1996 she was the first African-American to be featured on the cover of the Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue and appeared on the cover again in 1997. Also that year she won the prestigious Michael Award for "Supermodel of the Year". Banks has done runway shows in Paris, Milan, London, Tokyo and the U.S., and has been featured in many magazines, television commercials, and billboard advertisements. Her modeling credits include runway and/or print work for Cover Girl, Swatch, Pepsi, Nike, Inc., XOXO, LensCrafters, Tommy Hilfiger, Victoria's Secret, Ralph Lauren, Dolce & Gabbana, Yves Saint-Laurent, Chanel, Escada, Anna Sui, Michael Kors, Liz Claiborne, and Richard Tyler (designer). Banks has appeared on many international magazines, including the covers of Vogue, ELLE, Amica, ELLEgirl, L'Officiel, Harper's Bazaar, Photo, Cosmopolitan, Essence, and Sports Illustrated.
Banks addressed her physique in an interview with The Sun, saying, "I am totally against plastic surgery. A lot of people think I have breast implants because I have the biggest boobs in the business. But I was a 34C when I was 17. They stay up when I wear a push-up bra. But if people could see me when I come home and take off my bra, how could they think these are fake?". She is known for being proud of her curvaceous badonkadonk, and once commented, "Some models are flat-chested so they can run around without bouncing. I can't. Black women don't have the same body image problems as white women. They are proud of their bodies.
-- wikipedia.org
PHOTOS |
